Trump’s Timidity is Letting Comey Off the Hook

With just a few days left before Congress adjourns, House Republicans, like their President, have pretty much let the clock run out. There’s little chance now in “taking on the intelligence community,” says Ray McGovern.

By Ray McGovernSpecial to ConsortiumBecause President Donald Trump has again pulled the rug out from under them, House Republicans face Mission Impossible on Friday when they try to hold ex-FBI Director James Comey accountable for his highly dubious authorization of surveillance on erstwhile Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Comey let go his unprecedented legal maneuver to have a court quash a subpoena for him to appear behind closed doors before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee before the Democrats take over the committee in January. The current committee chair, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), decried Comey’s use of “baseless litigation” in an “attempt to run out the clock on this Congress.”

The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); so the still secret FISA application “justifying” surveillance of Page is almost sure to come up.

Comey had wanted a public hearing so he could pull the ruse of refusing to respond because his answers would be classified. He has now agreed to a closed-door meeting on Friday, with a transcript, likely to be redacted, to appear soon after.

In an interview with The New York Post last Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that he could declassify Comey’s damning Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant request to show how devastating those pages likely are, but said he would not do so “until they were needed,” namely, if a Democratic House starts going after him. “If they go down the presidential harassment track, if they want go and harass the president and the administration, I think that would be the best thing that would happen to me. I’m a counter-puncher and I will hit them so hard they’d never been hit like that,” Trump told the paper. He added: “It’s much more powerful if I do it then, because if we had done it already, it would already be yesterday’s news.”

But they are needed before Comey’s hearing on Friday. Barely a week will remain before Congress adjourns. Four weeks later Democrats take over the oversight committees.

Comey: Wanted open hearing. (Carciature by DonkeyHotey)

Cowardice Deja Vu

This is not the first time Trump has flinched. On September 17 he ordered “immediate declassification” of Russia-gate documents, including FISA-related material. Four days later he backed down, explaining that he would leave it to the Justice Department’s inspector general to review the material, rather than release it publicly.

What exactly is in the FISA application, and why had House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes, for example, kept pleading with Trump to declassify it? In July Nunes expressed hedged confidence “that once the American people see these 20 pages, at least for those that will get real reporting on this issue, they will be shocked by what’s in that FISA application” to surveil Page, a U.S. citizen.

Oddly, Trump echoed Nunes, telling The New York Post that, were he to declassify FISA warrant applications and other documents, all would “see how devastating those pages are.” But Trump blamed his reluctance to declassify on one of his lawyers, Emmet Flood, who thought it would be better politically to wait. “He didn’t want me to do it yet, because I can save it. … I think [eventual release] might help my campaign.” So Nunes et al. find themselves thrown under the bus, again.

Worse still, according to Comey’s attorney, the “accommodation” worked out with House Judiciary Committee includes a proviso that a representative of the FBI will be present on Friday to advise on any issues of confidentiality and legal privilege. Do not be surprised to see many Peter-Strzok-type responses: “I would really like to answer that question, but the FBI won’t let me.”

Afraid?

In an insightful posting, David Stockman, budget director for President Ronald Reagan, was puzzled about why Trump doesn’t seem to get what’s going on. I think, rather, that Trump does get it, and that Stockman’s puzzlement may be due mostly to his specific experience as budget director. In that role, Stockman did not have to pay much heed to the Deep State, so long as he did not demur about the obscenely excessive budgets automatically given to the FBI, DOJ, CIA, NSA, and the Pentagon.

With Trump it’s a different kettle of fish — and they are piranhas. Trump has ample reason to fear the Deep State is out to get him because it is. And by this point he seems to have internalized quite enough fear that it would be too dangerous to take on the the FBI and intelligence community. Needless to say, the stakes are exceedingly high — for both sides. As president-elect, Trump dismissed the usual warnings as to how things work in Washington. But he could hardly have missed Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s attempt to ensure that Trump knows what he should be afraid of.

Not Afraid? Then ‘Really Dumb’

On Jan. 3, 2017, three weeks before Trump took office, Schumer told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, that President-elect Trump was “being really dumb” by taking on the intelligence community and doubting its assessments on Russia’s cyber activities: “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you. So even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he’s being really dumb to do this.”

Schumer’s words came just three days before then-National Intelligence Director James Clapper and the heads of the FBI, CIA, and NSA descended upon the president-elect with the misnomered “Intelligence Community Assessment” — a rump, evidence-free embarrassment to serious practitioners of intelligence analysis, published that same day, alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin had done what he could to get Trump elected.

Adding insult to injury, after the January 6, 2017 briefing of the president-elect by the Gang of Four, Comey asked the others to leave, and proceeded to brief Trump on the dubious findings of the so-called “Steele dossier” — opposition research paid for by the Democrats (and, according to some reports, by the FBI as well) — with unconfirmed but scurrilous stories about Trump cavorting with prostitutes in Moscow, etc., etc. (And according to The Washington Post, that incident with hookers was written by a Clinton operative.) That opposition research was apparently used in the FISA warrant request, without revealing its provenance to the judge.

‘This Russia Thing’

Hoover: Model for Comey. (Wikipedia)

It seems to have taken Trump a few months to appreciate fully that he was being subjected to the classic blackmail-type advisory previously used with presidents-elect by the likes of J. Edgar Hoover. Indeed, this may be what Trump had in mind when he told Lester Holt in May 2017 that he had fired Comey over “this Russia thing.” (Trump can be his worst enemy when he opens his mouth.)

Comey’s closed-door deposition is now scheduled for the 77th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. But don’t look for any surprise attack on Comey this December 7 from Judiciary Committee members, highly vulnerable though he is.

With just a few days left before Congress adjourns, House Republicans, like their President, have pretty much let the clock run out on them. Few will see much percentage at this late date in “taking on the intelligence community.” Trump has already pretty much thrown them under the bus.

The leadership of the three House committees with purview over Russia-gate matters — Judiciary, Intelligence, and Government Operations — changes next month. So while Friday had seemed to be shaping up as a key day for confronting Comey — and for getting answers to questions on Russia-gate — the day will likely land with an anticlimactic thud. Even if the committee is able to expose additional misdeeds not already known, nothing much is likely to happen before Christmas.

After that, the three committees and their aborted work will be history.

The dominant mainstream media narrative about Russia-gate — ignoring FBI-gate — will hop happily into the new year. And no congressional “oversight” committee will dare step up to its constitutional duty, despite a plethora of documentary evidence on FBI-gate. And why? Largely because “they” of the Deep State “have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”

Most consequential of all, any significant improvement in relations with Russia will remain stymied. And the MICIMATT (Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think Tank) complex, with its Deep-State enforcer, will have won yet another round. Merry Christmas.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He worked for the senior Bush when he was director of the CIA and then briefed him mornings, one-on-one, with the President’s Daily Brief during the first Reagan administration. In Jan. 2003, Ray co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and still serves on its Steering Group.

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I know you aren’t a Trump supporter but why are you so adamant about the FBI “gate” aspect of all the current drama? Isn’t it just business as usual for the FBI and intelligence agencies to fabricate things in order to “go after” certain people or organizations or governments? Also, do you think the FISA court is nothing but a rubber stamp and that is why they allowed the warrant on Carter Page? I am not skeptical about your position I’m just trying to understand it. Thanks!

Steve Dowdy

December 9, 2018 at 12:16

I know this is a few days late, but did Mueller and Flynn have a relationship/history prior to Trump?

Regarding Trump’s “deep state,” one of his few super powers is he degrades all language he uses until it results in meaningless babble about himself. Just as “fake news” now has the meaning of “anything written about me I don’t like,” so “deep state” now means the “conspiracy of anyone and everyone who is out to get me.”

Therefore, I’d go with Lofgren.

wholy1

December 8, 2018 at 17:51

“Letting Comey Off the Hook”, or . . . giving the pathetic, sick CRIMINAL State bastard more “line/rope”?

ALL gases are insulators, some better than others. CO2 insulates better than either O2 or N2, the primary constituents of the atmosphere. Therefore, if you want to warm Earth, add more CO2 to the atmosphere.

QED.

P.S. The moon is very cold because it lacks an atmosphere. To terraform the now cold Mars add an atmosphere, any atmosphere, noting that CO2 warms more than Oxygen or Nitrogen.

For years now, I have been researching and writing about the Real Deep State. A definite highlight from this time was my brief correspondence with Robert Parry. That is why it pains me to see the direction this site has gone. The Real Deep State does not consist of the intelligence community — those agencies subject to Congressional oversight (however weak it may be). To understand the Real Deep State see Robert’s writing on Oliver North’s “Enterprise.” It was the Shadow Government — with its own propaganda network, airfields, planes, ships, Swiss bank accounts and more — designed to escape Congressional and public oversight. It didn’t just go away. And, as always, it worked to destroy the Democratic candidate and elevate the candidate promising bigger increases to the corrupt military industrial complex. Comey, with pressure from the New York FBI office, did all he could do to sink Clinton. How ironic that he is now held up as some kind of liberal obstructing justice. Get real. And the Trump players caught conspiring with Russia to undermine our democratic process, were exposed because they were dealing with agents already under surveillance. It’s as simple as that.

The Real Deep State does not consist of the intelligence community
Perhaps listening to this interview here will change your mind.

Skip Scott

December 7, 2018 at 14:05

Don-

Thanks for the excellent link. Really worth the time.

Don Bacon

December 7, 2018 at 20:32

Yes, the intelligence community is a large part of the deep state. And our reps in Congress can’t do anything about it because criminals like Brennan have them by the short hairs. They’re afraid of losing their security clearances! And what the intel criminals do to truth-tellers can be deadly not only to them but to their families.

Skip Scott

December 8, 2018 at 07:54

I made a lengthier reply to Mr. Ward, but it went into moderation a couple days ago. I linked several of Robert Parry’s RussiaGate articles. I don’t think Akismet knows Robert Parry from Robert Palmer.

Deniz

December 7, 2018 at 23:29

Kiriakou, the latest addition to CN, swears by the official version of 9/11.

Skip Scott

December 8, 2018 at 07:52

I noticed that part too, and his explanation was quite weak. He seems to poo-poo it without giving the evidence, especially the physics, much thought. BTW, Robert Parry bought the official line as well.

Deniz

December 8, 2018 at 13:51

I look at CN as the limit in which the intelligence community is willing to go with information.

“And the Trump players caught conspiring with Russia to undermine our democratic process, were exposed because they were dealing with agents already under surveillance. It’s as simple as that.”
If it is so simple, please produce some evidence to sustain your assertion.
We have evidence of British attempts to “undermine (y)our democratic process”And it is clear that various other middle eastern powers spent millions during the election campaign. What we haven’t seen is any evidence that any Russian state agency was involved in an election in which most of the world could see the candidates were equally unattractive and repellent.

DH Fabian

December 6, 2018 at 13:57

The mystery remains: In spite of much Dem voter opposition to the Clinton right wing, she got the most votes. The question, then, is why did Russia try so hard to get Clinton elected? Trump is president because he got the most electoral votes, something that couldn’t be manipulated by a foreign entity. Take it a step further. Consider the steps that Trump has taken to instigate a war with Russia — reinforced economic sanctions, increased US/NATO troops near the Russian border, increased US “meddling” in Ukraine, etc. None of this surprised Putin. (In interviews prior to the 2016 US election, he had diplomatically pointed out why both Clinton and Trump indicated increased international “challenges.”)

kula danga

December 6, 2018 at 13:38

(And according to The Washington Post, that incident with hookers was written by a Clinton operative.)

The incident with hookers is pure 4Chan and the Washington Post trying to claim it as theirs is being done in order to obfuscate the 4Chan origins. To hide the fact that the UK and US intelligence agencies lost control of the narrative and were well and truly pranked by 4Chan.

Herbert Davis

December 6, 2018 at 10:27

So totally corrupted that the protection Hillary Clinton and the DNC will go on a lot longer.

DH Fabian

December 6, 2018 at 14:02

Yes, H. Clinton intends intends to run again in 2020. Once again, she will be reframed as a “bold progressive,” and those who fail to march in lockstep will be branded as “Putin bots.”

Joy Wilder

December 6, 2018 at 20:55

Yeah, Hillary has already kicked off her 2020 campaign for President — with the full support of Chuck, Nancy, the DNC and, as Ray McGovern calls them: the MICIMATT complex.

I suppose Mr. McGovern is so inured to the depressing scenarios he spells out not to have them ruin the holiday season. Have a happy holiday, Mr. McGovern. No one deserves one more.

Herbert Davis

December 6, 2018 at 10:28

I hope you’re right!

EE Roberts

December 6, 2018 at 07:26

Mr. McGovern, of course, knows much more than the average person about the intelligence community. What he may be wrong about is that a HIC hearing accomplishes anything other than to provide its members a chance to pontificate, while giving the media material to spin to the advantage of those being investigated.

If the FISA application and other incriminating items are declassified and a US attorney empanels a Grand Jury to look into the same things that Devin Nunes and company want to ask about, something may actually come of the declassification. House committees can make recommendations for the DoJ to investigate further, but those committees can’t do anything more than refer to the DoJ. A US Attorney can seek an indictment and criminals can be put on trial.

Just recall how effective Trey Gowdy’s scolding of Clinton, Lynch, Comey et al was. They all skated away clean and their crimes turned out to be, as Trump said, “yesterday’s news”. The seating of a different Congress will only stop a House committee investigation. That kind of investigation is pointless anyway. Congress has no power to stop a criminal indictment process.

Deniz

December 6, 2018 at 02:53

The three branches of the US Government: The Banks, The CIA and Israel

SWT

December 6, 2018 at 01:36

Take note of protests in France and elsewhere throughout Europe. If Trump fumbles this now, the American people will likely soon take to the streets in protest because we have had enough stalling in prosecuting the neoliberal mob rule globalists. We do not just “want” justice; we DEMAND it.

bardamu

December 5, 2018 at 22:49

These guys all act like they know there’s a pistol in the room but they’re not sure who’s holding it or where it’s pointed.

I wish I knew something of the details, but I suppose the nature of this game is that one doesn’t.

Kiwiantz

December 5, 2018 at 22:20

The G20 meeting really showed Trump being led around like a old, confused dotard, not in full control of his senses & impervious & ignorant to what others are up to in his Administration? After delegating his Foreign Policy out to War nuts & crazies like Mattis, Pompeo etc who are leading the bumbling Trump, sleepwalking into WW3 with their hysterical sabre rattling & threats towards China & Russia, Trump has been totally outfoxed & brought to heel by the real Shadow Govt that really runs the USA? And its not the Govt the US people voted for, but a Deepstate Fascist, unelected cabal made up of the Intelligence Agencies, Corporate Business & the MIC! Trump is just a puppet dangling on the strings of this Deepstate & led wherever they tell him to go, like at the G20 despite his ridiculous tweets & stupid bluster! Trump was overheard, muttering on the recent G20 stage “get me outta here”? I bet he’s now thinking the exact same thing regarding the Presidency having it slowly dawning on him, that he is not in charge, the US Deepstate machine is in charge!

Will

December 5, 2018 at 21:54

if trumpkin is innocent, why have he and his people lied their butts off at every step of this whole Russian/obstruction of justice investigation? Comey is exactly what you’d expect for a head of the FBI, but the problem here at Consortium news is that know one here is paying attention to anything that happened outside of Hillary’s Emails/Wiki leaks. it kind of makes ya’ll look…unserious

Timothy

December 7, 2018 at 18:42

If you take a good look at what really went down, it was the Trump team taking orders from Israel to get the Russians to veto the UN vote on illegal settlements. Obama was still in office and ordered the UN Rep to abstain. Trump and team had no authority to act as official representatives of the USA govt. That is why Flynn is in trouble. But it was not the Russians. If you look at everything that has transpired, you know who really controls Trump.

F. G. Sanford

December 5, 2018 at 17:47

‘Twas a month before recess and all through the house, Deception consumed every mutinous louse. Jerry Corsi got snared in a perjury trap, Poppy Bush laid to rest for an underground nap. Now to Congress’s wondering eyes will appear: Jim Comey, evasive, and wearing a sneer. Subpoenas were postponed as long as they could, It would work if the tale that they told sounded good. They would stick to the story that Putin had hacked, Assange had colluded and the Russians attacked. They’d ignore all the experts and bury Seth Rich, All will believe Roger Stone was the snitch! Hillary’s book tour is Holiday fun, She’s shopping with cash from Uranium One! Not a word about Craig Murray’s thumb drive persists, “We must blame the Russians!” Chuck Schumer insists. The narrative Crowdstrike concocted will work, Jim Comey can posture, dissemble and smirk. With hearings concealed behind doors to be closed, He’ll stick to the Guccifer hack when deposed. The “Big Lie” will triumph with spurious clout, The public will yield to insertion of doubt. Trey Gowdy can bluster, Bob Goodlatte can pout, But Comey is smug and the clock’s been run out. The Q-dupes are thrilled and expect prosecutions, Those unsealed indictments might bring executions! They think those tribunals will get underway, With the swamp monsters tried at Guantanamo Bay! They want them all hung from the lamp posts with care, In the hope that the Clintons will also hang there! There’s lots of unrest way down south at the border, The troops have been sent to contain the disorder. Poroshenko’s in trouble, his ratings are thin, He just pulled a stunt like the Gulf of Tonkin. Bibi’s in trouble for public corruption, Kashoggi’s dismemberment caused a disruption. Gina insists MbS did the deed, Layoffs at GM and Ford will proceed. On Lockheed, on Boeing on Raytheon too, On Bell Helicopter, we’re counting on you! The stock market looks like it’s ready to tank, But Hillary’s still drinking sauvignon blanc! Merry Christmas to all, make America Great, With a nuclear war, we can end Russia-Gate!

Have at it Ray, and don’t hesitate to make changes/improvements if you see fit. I always notice things I could have done better but for the rush to get finished. ‘House’ in the first line probably should be capitalized. And, thanks to all below for your kind commentary. Glad y’all liked it.

KiwiAntz

December 6, 2018 at 01:04

Ba Humbug? It’s all Humbug I say? Thanks for that wonderful comment FG, put a Xmas smile on my dial.

LarcoMarco

December 6, 2018 at 02:58

“The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.”

The FBI, CIA, and NSA, plus Comey, Schumer, and Clapper have inflicted opium dreams on the American people. And now Dumpsterfire himself is in a toxic fog.

F. G. Sanford has truly out-done himself. Once again!!

Eddie

December 6, 2018 at 08:21

Thanks for amusing commentary.
It’s the people, I fear, that should be wary.
The ruling elites cause all the disruption,
It’s working folks who pay for the corruption.
But the day is coming
When in the streets blood will be running.

I read David Stockman’s take on Russiagate and Trump ‘s lost chance to declassify all of the stuff as soon as he was inaugurated, which would have saved a huge amount of time and effort wasted and a large amount of growing danger that Russia is now faced with because of all the lies and arguments divorced from reality.

Timothy

December 7, 2018 at 18:47

They have no intention to declassify anything because it points the finger at who really controls Trump- a bankrupt puppet and useful idiot for the robber barons.

Skip Scott

December 9, 2018 at 08:42

I believe Trump would be dead and the secrets would still be classified. Anyone who would try to do such a thing had better have a lot of good people behind him and be able to move fast. Trump wasn’t prepared. In the video Don bacon linked above, Bill Binney jokingly wishes for 9000 Samurai.

Bennyboy45

December 6, 2018 at 16:12

Brilliant

Joy Wilder

December 6, 2018 at 21:03

Wow, that was excellent, F.G. Sanford!!!

Bob Van Noy

December 7, 2018 at 09:51

Just Perfect for our times F.G. Thanks…

Ort

December 5, 2018 at 16:18

It’s hard to resist the conclusion that whatever genuine hopes Trump may have had for “draining the swamp” have long since evaporated, or been “corrected” by various persuaders. Instead, Trump talks the “swamp-draining” and quondam “lock Hillary up” talk for purely demagogic purposes. Of course, it may well be that it was all just “red meat” deception in the first place.

I suppose QAnon is still out there wittering about Trump’s eventual multi-dimensional chess-master (or ninja) takedown of the Deep State; Q and other wishful thinkers may claim that, say, Trump needs to wait until he is elected to a second term to finally lower the boom.

These possibilities are tempting, but less likely and compelling than the possibility that Trump will simply continue to rhetorically rant and threaten to expose and root out corrupt and seditious members of the government and Deep State– then admit in his characteristic, offhand manner that reforming with a vengeance proved both infeasible and unnecessary.

Case closed.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 6, 2018 at 13:04

It’s seems perfectly clear that all Trump’s “hopes” were of taking over the swamp, not draining it.

mike k

December 5, 2018 at 15:14

With the US government composed of liars and criminals of the very worst sort, nothing they do should be surprising. In fact it gets kind of boring to hear all the sordid details of their criminality over and over ad nauseam. We need a whole new culture based on truth and compassion. Nothing less will solve our exploding problems.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 5, 2018 at 13:04

Given a choice between the Deep State and Donald Trump, I’ll take the former as the lesser evil any day. And Devin Nunes is a complete clown, to see McGovern as a martyr for liberty makes me question either his intelligence or his motives.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 5, 2018 at 13:06

That is, “And Devin Nunes is a complete clown, to see McGovern portray him as a martyr for liberty makes me question either his intelligence or his motives.

Will

December 5, 2018 at 21:49

Devin Nunes…an apologist for NSA domestic spying and anti immigration hero who’s family quietly moved their dairy farm from California to Iowa so that people wouldn’t notice that 80% of their workers are undocumented Hispanics

Andrew Dabrowski

December 6, 2018 at 13:14

My point is that Trump doesn’t differ in any substantial way from the “Deep State”, e.g. he is the worst President ever on mideast issues. And his near perfect ego-centrism means the circle he cares about is even narrower than that of the DS.

You seem to think the DS is such a terrifying bogeyman that even I should cower at its mere mention, but I believe Trump is actually worse. At least the DS pays lip service to democracy.

Skip Scott

December 6, 2018 at 13:45

You see lip service as a positive? The “lip service” is part of the propaganda model that has kept us screwed no matter who is president. I suggest you read “JFK and the Unspeakable”, “Destiny Betrayed”, and “The Devil’s Chessboard” for starters. If you are still not cowering at the thought of the Deep State I would suspect you are a sociopath. Maybe you should run for office and cash in like the rest of them.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 7, 2018 at 13:40

“Maybe you should run for office and cash in like the rest of them.”

Ad hominems are worthless.

“You see lip service as a positive?”

Yes, because Trump’s alternative is blatant fascism.

Skip Scott

December 7, 2018 at 14:17

Andrew-

A sociopath by definition is someone incapable of empathy. If you read the books I mentioned, and still cannot feel empathy for the countless victims of people like Allen Dulles, then I would say you must be a sociopath. It has been shown in numerous studies that sociopaths have a tendency to rise to the top of any organization because they feel nothing when they step on the backs of others to clamor their way to the top. Our political elite definitely have a higher percentage of sociopaths than the general population. An ad hominem attack is one based on emotion with no intellectual argument to back it up. I just gave you the intellectual argument.

BTW, take the time to view the video Don Bacon linked above. It may change your mind about the power of the Deep State. Also, I am no fan of Trump. It is not an either/or puzzle.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 8, 2018 at 14:23

“An ad hominem attack is one based on emotion with no intellectual argument to back it up. I just gave you the intellectual argument.”

“…then I would say you must be a sociopath”

That’s your idea of an “intellectual” argument?

Here’s an intellectual argument: There is no way to infer from my statements that I don’t sympathize with the victims of the USA’s toxic foreign policies over the last decades.

“I do not think Trump is basically a good person. He is a buffoon and a sociopath.”

Then why do you think a “trip to the woodshed” required to get him to play ball?

Skip Scott

December 8, 2018 at 16:35

Andrew –

I see you purposely left out the remainder of my comment as to why Trump needed a trip to the woodshed. I won’t bother to repeat it. I infer from your statement that Trump is worse than the Deep State that you don’t have sufficient sympathy for the victims of the USA’s toxic foreign policy over the decades and you must therefore be a sociopath, as are most of the Hillary supporting latte-sippers. To think that a single president could possibly be worse is ridiculous in terms of the number of victims. Even if Trump ends up bringing on a nuclear holocaust, it will be due to the Deep State playing the role as puppet master, and they will bear the ultimate responsibility. I judge Trump as a buffoon and a sociopath because of his business history, his racism and his misogyny. It has nothing to do with his time as president.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 9, 2018 at 17:12

“I do not think Trump is basically a good person. He is a buffoon and a sociopath. However, his campaign rhetoric was to get along with the Russians, seek bi-lateral trade agreements, and bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. I believe they may have been genuine desires that run contrary to the PNAC/globalist agenda. Thus “the trip to the woodshed”.”

So you think Trump needed a good scare to prevent him from keeping his campaign promises? That’s laughable – Trump doesn’t consider any promises binding.

I still want to know what this “trip to woodshed” consisted of: A spanking? A stern lecturer from a hologram of Richard Helms? Jeff Bezos threatening to turn Trump tower into an Amazon HQ?

Skip Scott

December 10, 2018 at 10:02

Andrew-

No one has been able to go against the PNAC/Globalist agenda since its inception, and that includes Obama. Remember when he ordered the sharing of intelligence with the Russians over the Syrian conflict and his plan was immediately sabotaged at Deir-Ezzor? No one was disciplined. There were no negative consequences for the perpetrators. So who is commander in chief?

If you cannot figure out Trump’s “trip to the woodshed”, aka Schumer’s “six ways from Sunday” then you have no imagination whatsoever. People have families. People like to continue to breathe.

Have you read any of the books I’ve recommended? Have you watched the video that Don Bacon linked above that I recommended? I would bet not. I believe you are basically lazy, and come to this site to troll it. You have an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome which no logical argument can penetrate. Why not just go back to Rachel Madcow at MSDNC and leave us alone.

Skip Scott

December 5, 2018 at 14:40

So you’ll take a psychopathic cartel that’s controlled our government since at least Nov.22, 1963 over one egotistical buffoon who is just their latest installment as puppet. You’re a real deep thinker. I question your intelligence and your motives.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 6, 2018 at 13:15

If you agree that Trump represents the DS, what’s your point? I think Trump is actually the most dangerous rep the DS has ever had.

Skip Scott

December 6, 2018 at 13:52

You misunderstand me. I don’t believe he necessarily represents the deep state willingly, I think it is more likely he had a “trip to the woodshed” and is being forced to toe the line. The Deep State represents the forces of Globalization and the MIC. RussiaGate is being used to make sure he doesn’t negatively affect their bottom line. I shouldn’t have used the word “installment” in my previous post. I can see that would be misleading.

John Wright

December 7, 2018 at 03:20

It’s all about creating a plausible narrative for the masses.

Trump is a swamp creature and has been for decades. He is a Deep State puppet and part of their end game. They needed this Clown of Chaos to take the fall for the transition away from the petrodollar to another currency, as all that created debt has to get wiped out in order to restart the global ponzi scam which the raison d’etre of the Deep State.

This restart can be accomplished either through WW5 (cold war being WW3, post-9/11 War of Terror being WW4) or a less destructive global depression and shift to a new global currency. I’ve long thought that this will ultimately depend on whether the Chinese turn complete control of their currency over to the international banks or try to create an alternative financial system that is outside of the western Deep State’s control. Right now it appears that the Chinese are unwilling to give up their financial sovereignty (good for them!) and that we are in for a Eurasian war which may escalate to a global catastrophe.

This can largely be neutralized if enough of humanity refuse to play along and subvert this pathological paradigm by creating truly cooperative systems that optimize and balance sustainable local economies within a universally beneficial global system.

The only thing that is needed is the shared vision and will to co-create a new world.

The clock is ticking brothers and sisters!

Skip Scott

December 7, 2018 at 08:59

John-

I agree up to a point. I’m not sure Trump was a willing puppet, he may just be the perfect patsy. I think the Deep State was behind HRC, and was counting on her to lead us in the forever war. She would have done so quite willingly. I think Trump needed a “trip to the woodshed” to play along.

I completely agree with your prescription for neutralizing the upcoming catastrophe. It is time to evolve or die.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 7, 2018 at 13:43

” I don’t believe he necessarily represents the deep state willingly, I think it is more likely he had a “trip to the woodshed” and is being forced to toe the line. ”

And what does the DS have over him? Can’t he just go over the heads of the DS to the voters?

I.e., I think you’re kidding yourself if you believe Trump cares about anything except his own bottom line.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 7, 2018 at 13:47

“I think Trump needed a “trip to the woodshed” to play along.”

If you are naive enough to think Trump is a basically good person trapped in a bad system, maybe you need to read some more Chomsky.

In reality Trump is terrible person flourishing in a bad system.

Skip Scott

December 7, 2018 at 14:23

Andrew-

I do not think Trump is basically a good person. He is a buffoon and a sociopath. However, his campaign rhetoric was to get along with the Russians, seek bi-lateral trade agreements, and bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. I believe they may have been genuine desires that run contrary to the PNAC/globalist agenda. Thus “the trip to the woodshed”.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 11, 2018 at 14:03

So you believe Trump’s life and the lives of his family have been explicitly threatened by the DS. The best way to protect himself would be to go public with those threats. Jeff Sessions would have been happy to arrest anyone applying extortion to Trump.

“I believe you are basically lazy, and come to this site to troll it. You have an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome which no logical argument can penetrate. Why not just go back to Rachel Madcow at MSDNC and leave us alone.”

I see the ad hominems are getting longer and more vociferous.

JoeSixPack

December 5, 2018 at 17:01

Eugene Robinson is that you?

incontinent reader

December 6, 2018 at 03:39

Right. And I suppose you applaud the millions killed and displaced and the trillions squandered. That’s apart from the assault on the Constitution which Nunes and his colleagues have attempted to prevent.

Sorry, but Ray has nailed it with his commentary.

Could it be that the clown is the one you see in the mirror every morning?

Andrew Dabrowski

December 6, 2018 at 13:19

“Could it be that the clown is the one you see in the mirror every morning?”

Ad hominems get us nowhere.

Nunes revealed his stupidity with the previous memo he asked Trump to declassify. Now McGovern assures that the new declassification is the gold. If it were, Trump would eagerly agree, but even Trump has burn burned by Nunes to often to trust him again.

Andrew Dabrowski

December 6, 2018 at 13:23

I’ve really got to start looking these over for grammar and spelling before hitting Post.

Nunes revealed his stupidity with the previous memo he asked Trump to declassify. Now McGovern assures that the new declassification is the gold. If it were, Trump would eagerly agree, but even Trump has been burned by Nunes too often to trust him again.

Jeff Harrison

December 5, 2018 at 12:40

The new Praetorian Guards. We are toast.

Steve

December 5, 2018 at 12:31

plenty of time for a coupe de gras

Skip Scott

December 5, 2018 at 11:50

If Trump had brought the right people along with him, especially for key positions like Attorney General, maybe we could have returned to the “rule of law” that this following article articulates so well.

He didn’t get the “right people” because he has no interest in the rule of law, he wants kleptocracy.

evelync

December 6, 2018 at 16:06

So, I’m confused by it all….
Is the “deep state” just that permanent, perennial, enduring, ever-present, secretive part of the intelligence apparatus that serves the MIC through thick and thin, Dem and Rep administrations, decade after decade? The overarching misguided plots to secretly maintain the status quo of exerting influence and power over the rights of indigenous people on their own land and use our own people like robots just to make a buck for the oligarchs?

Is it’s job to use “national security” threats to keep hidden whatever policies/actions/invasions/use of military/control of media/politicians in order to further the interests of those who profit most from the MIC?

Is it just all about the money?

Are all the terrible unintended consequences just dismissed as friendly fire for “our’n” and who cares for “their’n”?

I ask because it seems that there are well meaning people who serve in our government.
And then there are the whistleblowers who shed some light on all the wrongdoing done in our name with our tax dollars.

Somehow, I think, if we scrutinized where all our tax dollars were being spent we might finally get a handle on what goes on under the radar which is counter to the constitution and to our democratic principles, the rule of law, common decency and just plain unfair.

pas bon

Skip Scott

December 6, 2018 at 16:37

evelync-

The term “Deep State” is somewhat vague. I see our so-called “Intelligence Community” as just a part of the Deep State. They serve the interests of western based corporate power. I see institutions like the CFR as part of the “Deep State” as well. It is more than just the MIC that profits. The pentagon has just flunked its audit. I suspect it will have no impact whatsoever on future budgets. It is basically impossible to scrutinize where those tax dollars are being spent.

Kiwiantz

December 6, 2018 at 23:38

Skip, the bumbling buffoon called Trump was never supposed to win the Election? He’s a accidental President, the ghost in the machine, an anomaly like Neo in the Matrix who was elected by ordinary Americans, sick to death of the status quo, a disrupter who came out of nowhere to shake up the old order! He’s a Real Estate hack whose used to running his “art of the deal”style of business philosophy in Real Estate, which is totally unsuitable for running a Country or Govt in both Domestic & Foreign Policy! The biggest benefit that his wrecking ball tactics are doing is alienating the World against the America & accelerating the move away from a unipolar World with the US as top dog to being just another hound in the pound! The Multipolar World is coming & especially the US de-dollarisation, already in progress, that will put a end to American Imperialism, once & for all? No more exhorbirant privilege of endless money printingQE thanks to the US dollar losing its World reserve currency status & the end of its petrodollars system will means no more financing for endless Wars by the murderous US MIC! That will be a sight to behold when it actually happens!

Francis E Lawrence

December 9, 2018 at 01:46

What is it that you don’t get about Trump? “If Trump had….could have returned to the “rule of law”” – yeah, and this could be something straight out of The Onion.

Skip Scott

December 5, 2018 at 11:28

Trump has been completely stupid throughout this entire affair if he was really interested on going after the “Intelligence Community”. If he were to ever succeed he needed to surround himself with good people from day one. Instead his choices have been the “worst of the worst.” He should have immediately de-classified enough material to expose the evil deeds of the CIA and NSA directly to the American people, and shamed the justice department into prosecuting them. It is impossible to do something like this in a piecemeal fashion. Now he has been completely hamstrung, and will have to toe the line to survive.

I doubt that Trump had much sincerity from the start, and was surprised by his own victory. Now he will do whatever it takes to prop up his monstrous ego, and keep away from Schumer’s “six ways”.

Jeff Harrison

December 5, 2018 at 12:46

It was always about his ego. Trump was, I think, who Douglas Adams had in mind when he crafted Zephod Bebblebrox who famously said: If there’s anything in this room bigger than my ego, I want it shot and killed.

vinnieoh

December 5, 2018 at 16:21

Haha. I was wondering earlier this week how big a snit Trump might be in because a dead predecessor was sucking all the media’s oxygen away from the conflagration that is him. He can ensure that such a to-do is made over him when he mercifully croaks if he just kills enough people, or flirts with treason, or bombs a country into the stone age to excise a “syndrome” that seemed (to us lowly cannon-fodder) an awful lot like “Peace, not blunder.” That way the media will have to go into Improbability Drive to cover up his sins, and he can take his place in the pantheon of “great American leaders.” ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS BE THERE. Like ol’ Tricky Dick said: “If the President does it, it’s not illegal.”

David G

December 5, 2018 at 21:58

PANIC
(inscribed in large, friendly letters)

rosemerry

December 6, 2018 at 15:41

” If he were to ever succeed he needed to surround himself with good people from day one. Instead his choices have been the “worst of the worst.” Does he even know any good people? How anyone alive today could choose John Bolton for anything is beyond me.